area reviews | FE Week

Three-way merger becomes two-way after college pulls out

A college has pulled out of a planned three-way London merger, as the remaining two colleges announce that they still plan to pair up. The College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London had been in discussion with Barnet and Southgate College and Waltham Forest College about a possible three-way link up, but announced today […]

Transparency questions raised over cash for consultants

Consultants working with colleges on FE and skills area reviews have been paid £3.5m in ‘transition grants’, FE Week can reveal. But the Department for Education has refused to reveal which companies the money is going to, raising serious questions about transparency. Previous requests by FE Week for information on the number of grants that […]

Area reviews: either publish guidance or extend timescales

DfE officials should be applauded, under the circumstances, for trying to support colleges as best they can by letting them see the area review guidance in draft form. I would like to encourage them to keep the sector as informed as they possibly can, as area reviews and apprenticeship reforms press on at breakneck speed. […]

Ministerial bypass sparks ‘woeful’ area review row

The UCU has blasted the “woeful” lack of transparency in the area review process, after it emerged that key guidance waiting for ministerial sign-off has been circulating in draft form for months. The Department for Education has still not officially published a crucial set of implementation guidance that was originally due in July, because final […]

Council wants small-school sixth forms to merge or close

Brighton and Hove council wants to merge or close its small-school sixth forms, it has announced following a review of local post-16 education. Its report calls for school and academy governing bodies to “consider the future financial viability of their sixth form provision” and develop a plan to increase numbers or merge with another school. […]

Government guidance delayed… but area reviews plough ahead

Wave four of the post-16 education and training area reviews has been launched, even though the sector is still waiting on important government guidance that should have been published in July. FE Week has received confirmation from colleges in the north-east, and Leicester and Leicestershire, which both fall under the fourth wave, that their reviews […]

Depth of resistance to area review laid bare

Deep divisions have been exposed between the colleges and the combined local authority involved with the Greater Manchester area review, according to leaked documents. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has spoken of its dissatisfaction with the proposals made by the 10 general FE and 11 sixth form colleges at the review’s fifth steering group […]

Principals have say their on the latest area reviews

A further three post-16 education area reviews were announced late last month by the government, taking the number of colleges undergoing the process to 72. Twenty one general FE colleges and 13 sixth form colleges (SFCs) across the Tees Valley, Sussex Coast and Solent regions, were added to the 22 general FE colleges and 16 […]